Hot & Sour Soup

We love eating Chinese food. The problem is, when we go to a Chinese buffet we end up eating way too much. Whenever I try reproducing Chinese dishes at home, they never quite taste the way they do at the restaurant. However, I was looking through my Cooking Light magazine and found a recipe for Hot and Sour Soup. We are avid tofu lovers so I gave it a whirl.

It is absolutely delicious! I think this recipe may be even better then the hot and sour soup we get in the restaurant. It has that sourness to it that we love but the amount of mushrooms and tofu that go into the soup balance it nicely. We topped it with some crunchy Chinese noodles and had pork eggrolls on the side to make a complete meal.

Hot and Sour Soup

1 package of extra firm water-packed tofu
6 c. vegetable broth
2 c. water
⅓ c. white vinegar
3 T. low sodium soy sauce
1 T. finely chopped fresh ginger (or powdered if you don’t have fresh)
1 T. sugar
1 t. pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 oz. mushrooms, chopped
3 T. cornstarch
¾ c. canned sliced bamboo shoots
1 egg
½ c. sliced green onions
1 c. crunchy Chinese noodles (if desired)

1. Place tofu on several paper towels. Cover with several more paper towels; top with a heavy skillet for 10 minutes to drain tofu. Throw paper towels away and cut tofu into ½ inch pieces.

2. Bring chicken broth and 1 ½ c. of the water to a boil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Stir in vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, sugar, pepper, garlic, and mushrooms. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. In a small bowl combine cornstarch and remaining ½ c. water. Whisk until smooth. Slowly stir the cornstarch mixture into the soup. Add tofu and bamboo shoots and bring to a boil.

4. Cook for 5 minutes then remove from heat.

5. In a small bowl beat the egg. Slowly drizzle the egg into the soup (it will form ribbons of egg). Do not stir!

6. Return soup to low heat and cook 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle with green onions and crunchy noodles.